Archery Stone Sheep hunting
by Paul Korn A-1 Archery

When I booked a backpack hunt near Dease Lake, British Columbia, for Stone Sheep, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into.  Seasoned sheep hunters all tell you to learn the angles.  After my BC adventure, I’m not sure if I studied hard enough before this hunt?

Our hunt started about one hour south of Deese Lake where we backpacked in from Highway 37, which was the main highway.  After nearly a full day of hiking, my GPS indicated we were 3.25 miles from our drop-off point.  This is in a straight line and, of course, we didn’t walk anything but straight.  Over the course of our first day’s travel, we gained a couple thousand feet of elevation.  Since the days are longer during this time of year, we actually had a little time to hunt our first afternoon once camp was set up. 

The area we hunted was Todagan Mountain, which has been archery only since the early 1970’s.  Since it is archery only, the area holds a number of nice Stone Sheep.  I was hunting with Troy Creyke of 2/C Outfitters.  Troy is a third generation sheep guide, who is proud of his family’s tradition of hunting Stone Sheep.  Troy hunted with high ethics and respect for these animals just as past generations have.  Troy named his operation after his dad, Bruce, (“B” is the second letter of the alphabet and “C” is for Creyke) and is proud to carry on the BC guiding tradition. 

Since this was the season opener (August 1, 2004), Troy had two hunters on this trip.  The other hunter was Randy Ulmer of Cave Creek, Arizona.  Most serious archers know of Randy either from his numerous archery achievements in 3-D, indoor target, bowhunting, or from the articles he writes for Bowhunter Magazine.  I had met Randy a few years ago at the Archery Trade Show in Memphis, Tennessee, but had never spent time hunting with him.   What a treat it turned out to be as Randy was fun to be around and even more knowledgeable than I had imagined.  Randy is an excellent marksman and hunter and a real bonus to have as a hunting partner.  Troy had his nephew, Shane Quoek (another seasoned family member who knows how to hunt sheep) along on the trip to make this hunt two-on-two.  The four of us made an excellent team and we all hunted hard. 

The first evening we all headed out together after camp was set up.  We glassed a mountain named Ram Castle.  This mountain was very rugged and steep.  Randy brought Savorski 15x binocular optics and a 60x spotting scope and constantly found game miles away in the mountains.  A ram that we felt may be legal was spotted on the next range over—about an hour of hiking.  So we got into a position to really check this sheep out good.  With Troy’s spotting scope he determined the ram to be eight years old and the horns just broke the bridge of his nose—he met the definition of a legal ram.  I decided I wanted to try for this ram.  About an hour later, we were 100 yards above him set up and waiting.  Troy figured at any time the ram would get up and feed to the grassy top we were waiting on.  About an hour later, it started to rain.  We lay there and got soaked.  Troy kept saying the entire time “we can do better than this ram—he is barely legal”.  Finally, he talked me into leaving the ram and moving to the next camp in the morning where he felt we could easily take a bigger Stone Sheep. 

The next morning the four of us got up, ate breakfast, packed up camp, and headed to the “promise land”.  A few hours later we were approaching the final leg to our next camp and the sheep sightings were incredible!  It seemed that in every direction there were scattered groups of sheep.  Randy pulled out his spotting scope and was looking through the fog that was starting to clear.  “Oh my goodness!” Randy exclaimed.  There is a huge sheep just across the canyon from us.  We must have tried for over an hour to get a good look, but the fog kept rolling in and out.  Randy said he was big and that’s what he was looking for.  We watched the group of sheep this ram was with and Troy seemed to have a good idea where they were heading.  We came up with a plan to cross over and set up on the group of sheep.  Randy asked if I wanted to flip a coin for the first chance at the big ram.  I said no and told Randy to go ahead and try.  He said I didn’t have to do that and that we should flip for it.  I insisted that he try to get the big ram.  Randy has hunted sheep several times and was really into it.  I really thought it would have meant more to Randy than me and I would be happy with just a legal ram.  We got into position, but the sheep didn’t cooperate and we didn’t really have a good opportunity for a stalk.  Also, there were several other resident hunters set up and waiting for the big ram. 

Day three we got up early and headed out together and found over 50 sheep laying together in a large opening.  Randy and Troy split off from Shane and I.  Shane and I decided to set up in a spot where we thought the sheep might pass by.  It was kind of comical as there were several other hunters surrounding the rams as they lay chewing their cuds having no idea of the potential ambush.  When the rams started to move away from the opening, we waited for over eight hours and (just as Troy figured) they got up and fed right towards us.  I took a couple long-range shots and misjudged the angle so my arrows sailed high with clean misses.  The rams went by Randy next, but couldn’t get a shot at the big one.  So we were both close on day three, but “no cigar” as they say. 

Day four Troy and Randy got up early to try and beat the other hunters to the sheep.  I stayed behind because I wanted to shoot my bow and make sure I was the problem and not my equipment.  As soon as it got light, I shot at a purple flower at 60 yards and hit it.  I was happy because now I knew the bow was okay and the problem was my judging angles.  The bad news was I only packed five arrows and I was now down to two because I hit a rock on my practice shot and broke the arrow.  I never could have imagined going through so many arrows—how silly of me! 

Shane and I started off for hunting and Troy and Randy were already on their way back.  Randy killed a beautiful ram.  This was the same ram that I missed twice the day before so we called him “Paul’s ram”.  Randy laughed and said. “I killed your ram, so I bet you will kill my ram”.  I said not to bet on it—I would love to take him, but I’m not holding out for the biggest ram on the mountain.  Randy was really happy with his sheep—it was big and we figured, after watching other sheep for a few days, it was the second largest one we had seen.  Randy really couldn’t have passed the ram up because it was nice.  He had also drawn a Wyoming Bighorn tag this year and only had a few more days to hunt.  Randy and Troy left camp a couple hours later to pack out Randy’s ram and gear so he could head back to Arizona. 

Shane and I headed in a different direction from where we were hunting to try something different.  Besides, Troy said we should leave the group we were chasing alone since they had just killed one of them.  After we spent a couple hours walking to a new spot, we set up to glass.  We seen hunters everywhere and decided to go back to where Randy killed his ram and just sit on a particular high vantage point to get ideas for the next day.  A few hours later we were in position, but we weren’t seeing anything.  That didn’t mater since we were just going to sit for the next few hours until it got dark to see what developed.  We weren’t there 15 minutes and the big boy (Randy’s ram) popped up over the closest hill.  I spotted him right away and pointed it out to Shane.  Shane informed me there were other hunters behind the ram.  So we decided to crawl back behind the ridge and get closer.  We backed out and got into position about 300 yards away.  As the rams were feeding towards us, we realized that two other hunters were bird dogging right above them and within 60 yards of the big boy.  I pulled out my video camera and thought I would film the guy shooting Randy’s ram.  The guy got to full draw and spooked the rams so they ran away without a shot fired. 

Now the big ram, along with a smaller non-legal ram, headed right for us—we couldn’t believe it.  Then we realized that there was yet another hunter below us that would spook these two rams around the mountain.  Since we didn’t interfere with the other hunters when they were close and had a chance, this hunter gave us our chance.  Shane and I ran around the mountain to meet the rams as they came around. By the time we got there, they were already bedded down and in a good spot to stalk.  We took our time and got within 55 yards, but the big one (Randy’s ram) was facing us.  As I peeked over the edge to range find the distance, it seemed steep to me.  I figured a nearly 45-degree angle.  A 45-degree angle would require subtracting 30 percent off the distance.  So I figured on using my 40-yard pin.  We waited for close to an hour until the ram got up, turned broadside, and stretched—perfect!  I placed my 40-yard pin in the sweet spot and touched off a good shot.  Wrong—the angle was more like 30-35 degrees, so I should have aimed 45-50 yards.  My arrow sailed under the big boy.  How depressing.  Another missed shot, not to mention I was now down to my last arrow.  Because I once again completely missed the ram, he just slowly walked away.  The look on Shane’s face said it all—learn to shoot—practice more—what’s wrong with you?  At that moment, I felt as incompetent as I ever have in my bow hunting career. 

The ram didn’t seem that spooked, so Shane said, “as soon as the ram goes over the mountain, we’re going to get him.”  A few minutes later the ram disappeared over the horizon and we were on a dead sprint to wrap around and get ahead of him.  As soon as we broke around the side, there he was feeding all by himself.  We crawled down a shallow ravine on our backs and got within 100 yards while the ram continued to feed in a nice flat area.  I ranged him at 88 yards and told Shane the yardage.   Shane said to me “maybe you should pass on the long shot since it’s your last arrow”.  I looked at Shane and said, “it’s long, but it’s my shot—no angles to guess; I know I can do this”.  Shane replied, “go for it, but make it count!”  As I was getting into a better position, the ram looked my way and I almost blew it again!  As soon as he started to feed again, I drew and took a good aim.  The pin was seated behind the shoulder when I released what felt like a really good shot.  Thump!  Whaaaaack!  He took off like he was shot from a cannon and ran over the hill.  Immediately after the shot, we ran to the top of the hill so we could see where he ran.  Since we couldn’t see him, we saved any celebrating until we had our hands on the big boy.  We decided the best thing to do was to go back to the blood trail.  As we looped around on our way back to the blood trail, Shane let out a scream—THERE HE IS!!!  HE’S A MONSTER!!!  We celebrated by screaming, hugging, and crying as the emotions poured out after such a great feat.

The ram made it 80 yards before going into a slide down the mountain.  He slid approximately 80-100 yards and got stuck between two boulders.  If the boulders had not stopped him, he could have free-fallen another couple hundred feet.  I couldn’t believe it!  A perfect shot to the heart and lungs and on my last arrow to boot! Of course, after all this the real work started like skinning, boning, and packing everything out.  As always, this labor of hunting love was carried out in a happy matter regardless of how sore and tired we were from all the hard work. 

The satellite phone in camp (normally for emergencies) had to be utilized that night to call Troy and Randy to let them know that Randy’s ram was dead!  They were just as happy and surprised as we were.  The pack out was absolutely grueling with the additional weight of the ram.  It was hard, but the walk would have been much tougher for a different reason had I missed the shot with my last arrow—I’m sure you know what I mean!